An Engine Hours report tracks and records the time the engine is on whether it is working, in idle, or transport. Every Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) recommends certain inspections after an engine hour threshold. You can compare OEMs’ recommendations for service based on their tractor's model and age. Operators who regularly review engine production hours can experience these benefits:

• Minimise potential downtime by scheduling recommended inspections.

• Be aware of warranty expiration limits and adjust the frequency of inspections or consider a replacement accordingly.

• Learn about the implementation of your warranty hours to insure optimised hour usage 

Utilisation reports divide each tractor’s hours into different types of usage. You can quickly see how much time a tractor works in the field compared to its transport or idle hours. Review this report and consider these points: 

• If the percentage of transport hours is significant or beyond reasonable limits for your operation, consider calculating time, fuel and warranty hours spent for those transport hours. This will give you a cost of transport time you can then compare to the cost of alternatives to that transport activity

• If the percentage of idle hours exceeds your goal idle, look at other tractors in the fleet. Is it an outlier? What are the costs of your idle time when considering fuel usage and warranty hours spent? Consider analysing reasons for that idle time, who operates it, is there an opportunity to reduce the hours?

Watch engine hours to ensure production hours are still under warranty and spent as much as possible in the field. 

The Fuel Consumption report tracks fuel usage for each tractor. When looking at this fuel usage report, you can compare engine hours to total Fuel Consumption. You can learn about your equipment’s engine speed, engine load and make connections to their fuel consumption. Then, take the following steps: 

• Calculate the total fleet's fuel consumed during a season to inform next year’s budget.

• Explore features like utilising full auto transmission, different engine speeds and/or ground speed to see relationships with fuel consumption.

Engine Speed reports the tractor’s RPMs . Engine speed is a simple variable to test and find the best settings to save on fuel or power usage for the current field conditions. After reviewing this report, take the following steps:

• Analyse the engine speed used during work, transport and idle to pinpoint the ideal engine speed for field conditions.

• Manage fuel and DEF usage to proactively schedule maintenance to extend the engine’s lifetime.

Operators running the tractor at an optimal engine speed help the entire farm manage fuel consumption.

The Engine Load Factor report provides insights into a tractor’s load distribution. Look at this report for each tractor and understand the tractor’s average Engine Load Factor while working, in idle or transport mode. Compare the tractor’s average load factor to the OEM's specs. Load factor information is a valuable tool these days because equipment is not what it used to be. I have heard many times when asking operators how they determine the correct engine speed the answer is “you can hear it in the tractors engine” or “you can feel it by the way it is working”. Although this may be completely true for a specific situation, chances are there could be opportunities to improve by making these decisions based on tractor data. You can then take these steps:

• Analyse the tractor's Engine Load while it is working, idling in the field, or while it is driving to its next location.

• Farm managers can monitor and help operators optimise performance by analysing Engine Load patterns over time.

• Compare performance at different RPMs to determine the idle engine speed needed to complete a job efficiently

• Learn equipment capabilities and ensure you have the right equipment for the job. Reduce downtime from overloading equipment. Reduce wasting warranty hours on your larger tillage tractors if the load factor indicates a smaller machine can do the job efficiently.

These steps help you understand the necessary amount of power, potentially increasing productivity and reducing operational costs.

Technology Usage reports help identify the correlations between the technologies used in equipment and the efficiency of their work. You can track each tractor's usage of precision ag technology and make sure they are getting the most value out of their investment. After reviewing this report, take the following steps:

• Evaluate if functions like field cruise usage reduce fuel consumption for that tractor and its field conditions.

• Identify which machines have higher/lesser technology usage and compare that to their fuel consumption. Are there any benefits you can spot in fuel consumption, service costs, or overall performance? 

• Discuss with the operator whether there are opportunities to adapt technologies you have available in your fleet for better optimised performance